The Butoh-kan is an earthen storehouse that survived the upheavals of 150 years ago, escaping pristine from the fires of the riots as if it were sacred ground protected by the divinity of water. Following the aspirations of this generation, I would like to present Butoh which offers the pure bright energy of water—the great source of all life and healer of beings.

Hisoku is a Japanese color, the mysterious beautiful sheen of Celadon porcelain after it emerges from the kiln miraculously transformed by the flames into a pale turquoise blue. For me, Hisoku is bound up with aqueous images: wellsprings, waterfalls, tears… In Japan, colors are not just designators of hue, but are profoundly bound up in delicate sentiments, premonitions, intonations, and affections.

I would like to go with the audience to touch that which lies at the depths of all that we hear and see.

Butoh is avant-garde yet imbued with an ancient unique Japanese physicality. Together with the many encounters in this long-awaited theatre, hoping to benefit all afresh, I dance with all my heart and soul.

Ima Tenko

Summer 2016

What is Butoh

Butoh is an avant-garde dance that was born in Japan in the 1950s.

Expressing a Japanese physicality and spirituality, the unique style of Butoh was a fresh challenge to the dance aesthetics of the time, undermining them from the ground up. Since then, Butoh has had a lasting impact on the world of dance.

Even now, Butoh enjoys especially high recognition abroad, but within Japan, information relating to Butoh is hard to come by, and the fact is that there are few venues where one can experience Butoh.

Art Complex has revived an ancient Japanese storehouse—an intimate space limited to eight seats—which will be devoted to ongoing Butoh performances, so that Kyoto becomes “the place” to see Butoh dance.

Ima Tenko Profile

In the Eighties, Ima Tenko was a core member of Byakkosha, one of the most acclaimed Butoh groups, and performed with distinct recognition both abroad and locally. With their breakup in 1994, she became an independent dancer, and went on to form the Butoh Company Kiraza, which toured Europe in 2005. Every year since 2007, they have been performing to sold-out houses at the historical Gojo Kaikan Theatre in Kyoto. In 2012 and 2013, they also performed at the festival sponsored by the National Agency of Cultural Affairs, a bureau of the Japanese Government.

Through the exploration of the avant-garde form of Butoh, which is supported by the Shinto practice of Tamafuri, “reinvigorating the soul,” a practice seen at the heart of Japanese performing arts, Ima Tenko explores the frontiers of her own art and self.

As an inheritor of Butoh, Ima Tenko uses Kyoto as a base to breathe new life and vigor into the form.

Okaeri Shimai Profile

“Okaeri Shimai” literally means something like “Homeward Sisters”. This pair performs traditional Nagauta songs on the shamisen. They are active throughout the Kansai region, imparting the sentiments and sensibilities of the old Edo Period to the audiences of today.

About the Space

This historic building is in use via the cooperation of Mr. Ukifune Kunihiko, chairperson of the Jikkei Group of Colleges.

A valuable cultural resource, it is a “kura,” or earthenware storehouse that was built in the latter-half of the Edo Period (1603-1868). It managed to escape the riots of the Hamaguri Rebellion of 1864, in which rebels and shogunate forces collided and set fire to the city.

Within the earthen walls of this Kyoto treasure, the resonant sounds of Japanese shamisen blend with visceral dance, and we hope you encounter the rich world of Butoh.